Category: All News
Source: Science Magazine By: Warren Cornwall A Douglas fir tree is a marvel of natural engineering. The trunk, made mostly of slender dead cells each a few millimeters long, can reach heights of 100 meters. It’s supple enough to sway in windstorms without snapping, yet strong enough to support its weight—up to 160 metric tons. Kilogram […]
Source: San Francisco Chronicle PONDEROSA BASIN, Mariposa County — When Ursula Rowe returned to her mountain home after a hip replacement a few months back, the landscape had changed. Dozens of towering pine trees had browned up and died on her once-verdant plot of land near Yosemite, and she had to cough up $25,000 to […]
Source: KQED Science Wildfires and Tree-Killing Beetles So far this year 4,636 wildfires in California have burned more than 200,000 acres. That’s more fires than this time last year and more fires than the five-year average. In fact, in the last few decades, the number of large fires are on the rise across the Western United […]
Source: The Forest Blog It’s summertime or the tail end of it at least. Fires are still an issue for some communities, while others move towards the cool fall nights and rainfall. We had another season of massive wildfires. Fortunately, the season was much better for those of us in Northeast Washington, while others still face significant […]
Source: Evergreen Magazine What role does thinning in overstocked and diseased forests play here? “If we use insect and disease attacks as indicators of genetic simplicity, and resilience to these pests as indicators of genetic robustness, we can use harvesting to assist natural selection to build a more resilient forest ecosystem with a greater ability to […]
Source: Healthy Forests The U.S. Congress is working out differences between House and Senate versions of a comprehensive energy bill. There is one key difference between the bills: The House included a comprehensive wildfire funding and forest management reform package, while the Senate did not. It is now up to a conference committee to work […]
Mixed Grain Fir vs. Clear Vertical Grain Fir Clear vertical grain Douglas Fir flooring has been around forever. It’s been the standard for wood trim and flooring for decades, and for good reason: Fir offers a rich warm look and consistent quality. However, it is not always the best choice. We are the largest producer […]
Source: RETHINK WOOD – BY ROXANNE WARD / DAVE PATTERSON The Environmental Impact of Using Wood As green building has evolved beyond its initial emphasis on energy efficiency, greater attention has been given to the choice of structural materials and the degree to which they influence a building’s environmental footprint. Increasingly, wood from sustainably managed forests is […]
Source: NWFA Environmental Benefits of Wood Floors . Wood flooring is the most abundantly renewable flooring material available. Sustainable forest management makes it possible to harvest wood without any serious impact on the environment, because trees are a renewable resource that can be regrown time and time again. Average annual net growth for hardwoods is […]
Source: Forest 2 Market Measuring Forest Sustainability The biological sustainability of a forest can accurately be measured via two primary methods. The first method seeks to measure the volume of forest inventory; analyzing inventory changes over time is an effective way to gauge the balance of growth and removals in a specific geographic area. In […]
Source: Great Falls Tribune Montana’s Natural Resource Industry Faces.Challenges The year 2016 has unfolded as an extremely challenging one for Montana’s natural resource industries. Whether talking about challenges facing timber, how the situation in Colstrip and coal country affects families and state coffers, or how mining, quarrying, and cement can continue to contribute to our […]
Source: Flathead Beacon Governor announces initiative focused on improving forest management BY DILLON TABISH SEELEY LAKE — Days before the final logs rolled through the Weyerhaeuser Company’s plywood plant and lumber mill in Columbia Falls, the pending closure cast a pall over the stacks of freshly cut pine and fir at Pyramid Mountain Lumber. Family […]
Source: The Forest Blog By Russ Vaagen The current trajectory of our forests isn’t the beautiful, healthy evergreen forests most people think. Our National Forests are dying and burning at an alarming rate. Regardless if you believe in climate change or if it’s human caused, the fact remains that our forests aren’t green. They stand to […]
Source: Missoula Independent Ron Porter likens the devastation wrought by the Roaring Lion Fire to “losing a friend you’ve had for 70 years.” That’s how long he’s lived in the shadow of Ward Mountain south of Hamilton, and almost how long he’s worked at his family’s Porterbilt Post & Pole. The fire that has so […]
Source: Cool Green Science What can we do to slow climate change and restore America’s forests? I used to think the answer was to plant more trees. Boom. Done. Mic drop. But wait, that’s not the whole story. Our remaining forests face great challenges like massive wildfires and invasive forest pests. Managing for this array […]